Hour of Code™ - Credit Suisse

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To many, the apps on our smart phones and other electronic devices have become indispensable, from games and social media, to email at the top of our fingers, and round the world news at the touch of a button. However to almost as many people, the way in which these applications operate borders on magical. The Hour of Code™ is a global initiative with the simple goal of demystifying "code", to show that anybody can learn the basics of developing their own application, or more.

As part of this global effort, 30 software developers in Credit Suisse Hong Kong walked students from local schools through the process of creating a mini-golf game for the Android platform. Each student was led through a few exercises to design the look and feel of the game, as well as building the logic that decides how the game operates. As the knowledge of each student grew, they were able to increase the complexity of the game.

The students were eager learners, and by the end of the afternoon their curiosity in the software development process began to emerge. Some were curious about the basic constructs of conditional statements, and looping. Others wanted to understand more about how an app on their phone could communicate with a server located elsewhere in the world. It was a fulfilling experience for both the students and developers, and for some of the Credit Suisse colleagues it reminded them of how they became interested in software development in the process. Hopefully this same interest can be passed on to the next generation of developers.